To Wish Is To Die
by Sinangeled
Summary: Rewrite of the episode "The Wish". Cordelia is the Slayer. But can she save the town when Angelus and Buffy come to take over Sunnyhell? Will she survive the Master?  Groupfic. B/Aus Dru/S W/X
1. Prologue

Hey guys,

This story has been in the works for about two or three months and will most definitely be compleated. I made sure that I had the whole plot planned out and at this point in time have nearly completed the story. I made an mistake posting Blindness without any real idea of where the plot was going and now it is on hiatus unfortunately. It was a beginner's mistake and i hope anyone very fond of it can forgive me. I will definitely return to it at some point in the future but it will be at least a few months. Again, thanks for your patience.

-Sinangeled

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**Prologue **

Cordelia Chase was pissed off, tired, embarrassed, and jealous. That was her only defense. That and the fact that she didn't have any idea that her damned wish would actually come true. Honestly, people made wishes all the time and they never came true. So why did that freaky demon have to be listening to her?

The freaky demon, for her part, was just bored. Anyaka thought that Cordelia was one of the most irritating and shallow mortals she had ever met. By the time she actually made her wish it didn't even have anything to do with the mortal boy who had scorned her, but rather a girl she was jealous of. Anyaka didn't care at that point, she was desperate to get away from Sunnydale. So when Cordelia Chase said _"I wish that __I__ was the Slayer and that you were just some vampire I needed to kill!" _to one Buffy Summers….

Anyaka said "Done."

Cordelia opened her eyes to find an irate Giles, peering down anxiously at her through his glasses.

"Giles!" she exclaimed.

"Ah, Cordelia, good, you are feeling better now I presume?"

"Well yeah, now that I'm not unconscious, I mean, honestly…" the brunette Slayer trailed off as her Watcher gave her a stern look. It was no secret that Rupert Giles was unhappy to have Cordelia as his charge. But unfortunately he found her extremely irritating while she liked to complain how he ruined her social life.

They were an unlikely pair, this Slayer and Watcher, but this was the hellmouth and there were no other options. They would have to save humanity.

Because humanity needed saving.

The Scourge of Europe glanced over at his consort. His eyes trailed over her body approvingly. She was a gorgeous, gorgeous, creature and she was his. He savored the possessive feelings that ran through him and anticipated the arrival of the night. They were headed to Sunnydale to take over the Aurelius clan and dispose of the Master and he was greatly anticipating the fun that they would have while they were there.

His mate was looking out the sun-proof windows of their car watching the sun inch closer to the horizon.

"We are going to have. So. Much. Fun" she said. He grinned broadly. His mate was in a particularly vicious mood at that moment. After that mob in Prague had nearly killed Drusilla and he and Spike had killed them all without Buffy she had been desperate for an outlet for her rage. Sunnydale should be perfect for them.

"It's a party," sighed Dru. "A wonderful wonderful party. And the Slayer is the cause of it all. She made her birthday wish and now we can blow out the candles"

" 'S lovely pet," said Spike, "But what does it mean, my plum?" Drusilla shivered. Spike sighed and shifted his body slightly in the backseat of the car to get a better look at Buffy.

"Any of those pesky left over prophetic dreams, love?" he asked pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. Buffy glowered at him.

"No" she snapped. "And put those away. Once that smoke gets in the fabric it'll never come out and then we'll be stuck with the stench eu de Spike for the rest of eternity."

Buffy _was _unhappy Angelus noted with a little smirk. That was okay with him. Though he naturally wanted his mate to be happy, there was some absolutely mind blowing sex that ensued when she was _thisclose_ to ripping his balls off. He pushed a little harder on the accelerator as he smoothly maneuvered the car up the road to the mansion that he intended to occupy.

It was very very good to be him.

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Reviews are _most _helpful thank you. Especially criticism. Writing is a process, ergo, it demands feedback. Muchas Gracias Chicos!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Blast it, Cordelia!" Giles snapped. "This is highly important!"

"Yeah," said the whiney cheerleader, "Well, so is my six o'clock facial tomorrow with Renaldo. I'm not about to end up with bad skin just so you can indulge your creepy Watcher tendencies. Why don't you do the patrol. Cause unlike you, I have a life"

"It won't be a very long one if you don't focus! It has been rumored that Angelus of Aurelius and his family are coming to Sunnydale, Cordelia. The Scourge of Europe, William the Bloody, Drusilla, and The Angel of Death, who might I add is a former slayer herself, may be coming to down and if they do then you can be sure that you will be one of their first priorities."

Cordelia looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean, 'priorities'" she queried. Giles gave her a pained look.

"It means they will seek you out, mentally torture you, break you down, physically torture you, and then make a grisly display out of your body." He told her.

"Oh" Cordelia said faintly.

"Quite." Giles said heavily. "Now will you please listen?"

Cordelia nodded, deposited her handbag on one of the library desks and turned to face him. One of the few things Giles appreciated about the girl was her inherent selfishness that included a healthy sense of self-preservation. Cordelia Chase would always to her best to save herself.

"You said one used to be a Slayer?" she questioned. "Wow. She must have really sucked to get turned by a vampire."

"She was the best Slayer in the past 300 years, " Giles informed her. "That was partially why she was turned, she had such a successful career over only two years that everyone, including more powerful members of the demon community, took notice of her."

"Wait," the brunette said, "I wanna hear the story behind this whole vampire-slash-slayer thing"

Giles sighed and debated whether or not to tell her. It was a dilemma. He didn't want to scare the girl too much or she wouldn't do her job, but on the other hand he was loath to give her a false sense of security when dealing with the most dangerous vampires in the world. He took a moment to glance at Cordelia. She had that look on her face that told him she was not going to budge and he was reminded of the first time she had met him and he had angered her greatly. She had accused him of being a sexual predator before later recanting, saying it was a joke.

But it bloody well ruined his reputation.

Keen to avoid any further damage he decided to simply tell her the story and hopefully convince her to be careful and vigilant without barricading herself in that mansion of hers. It was really a delicate balance with the teenager who was certainly the most unique Slayer that Giles was convinced ever was. On the other hand though, there was a Cordelia Chase at every high school in America, so she really wasn't that special.

"It's rather a long story," he said, "But I really do think you need to hear it. This information could potentially save lives, including yours even. And it's quite, ah, how to you Americans say it?, never mind, it's quite dramatic anyway. More like the plot of one of your dreadful novels than history."

Giles hazarded a glance at Cordelia. Clearly his little intro speech had worked. She actually looked moderately interested. He was finally grasping how to communicate with the selfish, haughty, frightened American girl. _Bravo, Rupert! _He thought.

"We will have to start at the beginning I'm afraid," he continued, "The vampire Angelus, commonly known as the Scourge of Europe, was turned by the vampress Darla in Ireland around 250 years ago. He quickly became famous for his cruelty, viciousness, and brutality. In addition, he is quite cunning and very patient. Within decades of his debut, if you will, as a vampire he was feared throughout the demon world. No other vampire had become so powerful so fast, and he wasn't even seeking it at the time.

He is all about the hunt and the game. He was just having a good time, however his good times included slaughtering entire villages, raping and murdering innocents, and gratuitous amounts of torture. He practically wrote the book on mental torture and there have been many displays of his prowess at physical torture as well. He is feared by all.

He has sired several vampires himself and without exception they have all turned out to be nearly as deranged and brutal as he. There is actually quite an interesting example around 1795 of-, well, ah, never mind then, it's not relevant to this story. Anyway, Drusilla was one of his obsessions. By all accounts she was a relatively normal girl, very religiously devoted, and Angelus played mind games with her and eventually drove her mad and turned her. She is still insane but is also very cunning so don't underestimate her.

Later on, William the Bloody, also known as 'Spike' was turned. He is Drusilla's paramour and has a nasty reputation of his own. He earned the name Spike by torturing his victims with railroad spikes, however, he has a weakness, he is rather rash and impetuous, you can use that to your advantage Cordeila.

The last member of their little family is Buffy. She was a slayer like yourself, and also like yourself, was not discovered by the Council until she had already become the Slayer. By all accounts she was a bright, vivacious, young woman. Her family was very wealthy, her father a corrupt politician in Chicago in the 1920's. She was given a watcher and he made the mistake of trying to take her away from her family, alienating her. Her father assumed he was trying to kidnap her and had her watcher killed. Unfortunately this caused Buffy to lose trust in the council and her next Watcher had a difficult go of it, Merrick, I believe his name was."

"I'll say," interrupted Cordelia, "Trying to kidnap someone like that, just take her away from her life, so uncool." Giles worried for a moment that Cordelia was over identifying. Though Buffy and the selfish girl in front of him had much in common, he knew them to be very different people.

"Well," he continued, "Despite her reluctance she soon became a very powerful Slayer. The most powerful one since the Dark Ages in fact, quite an accomplishment really. She had just turned 15 when she was called, and for the nest year and a half she was quite successful. She defeated a master vampire called Lothos on her 16th birthday, one who had made a habit of killing Slayers. During that time, her Watcher had been killed during that battle. Her defeat of Lothos must have been what got his attention because we know Angelus arrived in Chicago soon after.

We know he had killed at least two slayers before that, and Spike had taken one too. However, Angelus never boasted about them, strangely enough, and he was rumored to be the demon that killed several others. It is assumed that it was his intention to make Buffy his next victim but something changed.

All we know is that when Buffy's next Watcher arrived, she had already met him. She had been receiving help from a mysterious man who called himself Angel. Her third watcher did not make much of it. By all accounts he was not a very pleasant fellow. Bad character, unfit to be around children. His interest in Buffy was less than professional and he overstepped the boundaries. He ah,-"

Giles was loath to tell Cordelia, who already had a very low impression of the Watcher's council that a watcher had drugged a 16 year old Buffy with the Crucematarium drugs and attempted to rape her. Or what Angelus had done when he found out.

"He overstepped the boundaries with her. She fled," he said, "And somehow Angelus found out. From Buffy's diaries we can deduce that he had introduced himself to her as a sort of fellow demon hunter. She liked him and was, ah, attracted to him. His name, the one with the angelic face, well, he is by all accounts quite good looking. And Buffy herself was one of societies great beauties. By all accounts she was surpassingly lovely. He, we can deduce, had become obsessed with her. "

"Well why didn't he do the Drusulla-whatsit thing again, why didn't he just kill her." Cordeila asked. She seemed interested. Giles didn't know wither to be pleased or frightened.

"He's not the sort to repeat himself for one. And Buffy was a very different sort of person. She was much stronger, women of her time were asserting their independence. She was also physically stronger and the circumstances were just very different.

Anyway, after he found out about her Watcher's, ah, indiscretion, he, well, slaughtered him."

"Oh" said Cordelia.

"Oh?" queried Giles.

"Well he had the hots for her, right? He was being all stalkery possessive boyfriend or whatever" said Cordelia, flipping her hair in impatience. Giles blinked.

"Yes, well, ah, when she was feeling better she returned, perhaps to confront her Watcher, and found him brutally murdered. Angelus considers himself an artist of sorts and he can be very, ah, creative in his methods. He left some kind of calling card for Buffy. We have some of her journals, and the Watchers had been keeping a close eye on her after the death of her first Watcher. We know it was something personal that had meaning to her because she wrote in her diary, 'He knew. He knew I would know. He wanted me to know, wanted me to know that it was he who slaughtered Travers like an animal only after he tortured him for God only knows how long.' She goes on to account more of what happens next." Giles closed the copy of Buffy's journal. What happened next was so unlikely he felt he needed to make sure Cordelia didn't gain any illusions.

"He was a monster. He was a sadist and he enjoyed her pain Cordelia, remember that despite some of his actions may seem to hint otherwise that he takes perverse pleasure in other people's pain.

He began stalking Buffy, who was already quite traumatized at that point. She had three watchers, two who betrayed her in horrible ways and one who had died protecting her. The other two died at the hands of men who chose to try to protect her through violence. Her parents were in the middle of a divorce, her mother was an emotionally abusive alcoholic, and her father was neglectful and flagrantly unfaithful . Many of her friends had abandoned her and the two who actually knew her secret were as scared as she was. Furthermore-"

"Hold up a sec." Cordelia looked very unhappy. "Her friends knew? What about the whole secret identity thing. Or was that particular hell just something you cooked up for me?"

"Her friends found out by accident, and Buffy's circumstances were very unusual. She was a very unusual girl.

Anyway, Angelus began stalking her. Spike and Drusilla joined him at some point. As did his paramour, Darla."

"Hold up a second," said Cordelia, "If the guy who I had made into my sexy immortal boytoy suddenly started drooling after a slayer… Well why wasn't she pissed?"

Giles began rubbing his glasses. "Well, you see, he had obsessions in the past but always returned to her, at first she didn't realize it was different. But he was stalking her in a way that told of a different story. And then Buffy was supposedly better looking and well, she became very jealous, and not without reason, he had turned one of his obsessions, why not another? She went to kill Buffy herself to regain the interest of her paramour.

It did not go as she anticipated. Drusilla who is something of a seer, alerted Angelus who found them. Darla was attempting to kill Buffy who was going after Darla. What happened next, no one could have anticipated. Angelus killed his sire and paramour of nearly two centuries to protect the slayer."

"Wow, " sighed Cordelia, "Is this guy a hunk or what?" Giles was alarmed.

"Cordelia, this man is far worse than Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper, he as killed perhaps fifteen thousand people, likely more. He has the ability to be charming, like a serial killer, like a snake, his actions have been so horrific, so utterly inhumane and cruelly vicious, that even demons are afraid of him. His interest in Buffy was very dark and very, very bad for her. Do you understand?"

Cordelia was afraid. She had never seen Giles so angry. What she did not realize was that much of his anger was fear. Fear that she would die, that he would fail in his duty towards her. Giles may not have liked the vapid girl, but it was his duty to protect her and he understood that despite her numerous character flaws she was only a teenager who was unlucky enough to have a duty thrust upon her that she was not prepared for. So despite the fact he would have preferred to have a slayer like Buffy had been, he was determined to do right by her.

"Yes" she said in a small voice.

"Good," Giles inhaled, "Now, he stalked her for months after that, alienated her from her friends and family and her community, he wanted to be the only option she had, likely because for some perverse reason, he wanted her to choose him. He still tried to charm her. From what she wrote early on she had almost fallen in love with him, she-"

Giles broke off and hesitated. He did not want to tell Cordelia what he remembered reading in one of Buffy's diary entries.

_He is still a great mystery to me. _She wrote _But I feel I am beginning to figure him out. He is confident, charming, and charismatic. He moves with confidence and grace. He appears to be a man who is sure of himself. But he seems to have this need to prove himself. To prove he can be the best at whatever he can do. It is almost as if someone did something to him, or said something to him, something that makes him feel as if he is never good enough, as if he will spend the rest of his life proving he IS good enough, that he made something out of himself. _

_He wants me to be safe, I know that for sure. When we were fighting a large group of vamps, one scratched me on my back and tore open my skin. Angel let out an animalistic roar and ripped his head off with such rage that I was frightened for a moment. I know he isn't human, isn't human anymore he said, something about being infected by an aspect of a demon. His curse, he says with a wry little smile, that sensual half-smirk that I have come to adore so much. _

_But I also know he can be cruel. He enjoys violence, he loves the fight. But, the thing is, so do I. As wrong as I know it is, I love fighting and knowing that I will win. I can also be needlessly cruel, venting my frustrations on the undead before I give them the mercy of true death. He speaks to my dark side. And he knows it too. He once told me that it didn't matter. He told me my power was rooted in darkness. I began to cry to my shame. But, he told me, I was strong, so strong, and that I had burdens that no one else could possibly understand. And that what I did was more important than how I did it. And then he hesitantly hugged me as if he had never hugged anyone ever before. I almost believe it. _

_I know he is highly intelligent, artistic, and very very passionate. I know that he has nothing but contempt for most of society as well! I know that sometimes he just looks at me. Looks at me like no one else ever has. It seems like he wants to see inside me, to know everything I am. He tells me that I am a puzzle to him, one day, he says cheerfully I'll figure you out. _

_What if you don't I ask playfully, but desperate, oh so desperate, to hear the answer. I pray that he won't leave me. I asked him once, in a moment of weakness, when he would leave, just so I could plan ahead. He looked at me for a moment. His eyes were almost achingly tender. He said a funny word that sounded like in-oon. Something that sounded like mo gra, then my name. Buffy, he said, I will never ever leave you. Everyone leaves. I know that. But when he says it I believe him. _

_Oh, God, I think I love him. _

_I can sense his presence, it's different then a vampire or a monster, I know him by feel. And either he has eyes in the back of his head or he can feel me too. When I am with him, I sometimes feel safe and warm and __home__. Other times I feel like I'm burning. There is a heat between us, a tension. I kissed him last night and it was like… Unbelievable. I wanted to die right there and then, because nothing will ever be as good. _

_I love him. _

Buffy had give her heart to a man who no longer possessed one. Giles shuddered to think of what the demon must have been thinking throughout their unorthodox courtship. He broke out of his reverie.

"He continued to court her in his unorthodox manner and from what little she wrote in her diary after that she was growing increasingly haunted and unhappy. This went on for months and then- And then the council decided to intervene. You must understand Cordelia, that the corruption of the 1920's was not limited to the American government. The Council was also not a very noble institution at that time. They hadn't wanted to risk losing another Watcher with Buffy and they were suspicious when her third was slaughtered by a vampire who left the Slayer unharmed. When it became apparent he was stalking her and that she couldn't bring herself to kill him… Well, they decided it would be best to have a fresh start.."

"You mean they wanted to kill her." Cordelia said, disgusted. Giles felt the bile rise in his throat. There were still some in the Council who maintained they had done nothing wrong when it came to Buffy Summers, mostly the children of those who had destroyed her life.

"Angelus found out. He was furious. The details are a bit blurry on what happened next. We know the hit squad dispatched to eliminate the slayer was found slaughtered in such a brutal manner that several of the Watchers who found them later killed themselves. We know that Buffy was missing. We know that there was a heart painted in blood above her bed. And we know that Angelus turned her sometime between then and when he next surfaces with a beautiful blonde companion in Milan."

Giles risked a look at Cordelia. She looked thoughtful. He hoped it was the right kind of thoughtful. At that point he almost regretted telling Cordelia the whole story of Buffy's turning. It was heavy on the details and had not given her a clear idea of the kind of threat the former slayer represented.

"Over the past eighty or so years she has become nearly as famous and feared as Angelus himself. She actually has a strong dislike for most vampires and tends to kill them when they annoy her. She has a careless brutality, almost contempt for her victims, and she is very strong and very deadly. She kept her slayer strength when she was turned and was already stronger than the average Master vampire. Occasionally when she and Angelus get bored, they hunt the current slayer. However, all of the slayers they have killed were poor ones who were not very good at their job."

Giles decided not to mention that Cordelia fit perfectly in that category.

"She is smart, very smart, as smart as he is. They are an evenly matched pair who are easily more powerful together than even say, the Master, although the Master has a much larger following and far more political power. He sired the vampire who sired Angelus so when Angelus killed Darla, who was something of a favorite to Nest, he blackened himself in his eyes. However, Angelus and his family are extremely popular and any attack on them would likely be doomed to failure and would incur their wrath so they generally tolerate each other from a distance"

Cordelia was feeling a little hopeful.

"So they probably aren't coming here then?"

Giles wished that was the case. "The Master plans to open the Hellmouth and apparently they are not big fans of this idea. They may be coming to stop him-"

And upon seeing Cordelia's hopeful face he added, "-or to assist him. We cannot know for sure."

Still, it was some stuff to think about, thought Cordelia. She had to go now or she would be late for Renaldo. It wouldn't do her any harm to look good while killing a few vamps. Anyway, how would Giles know if she skipped a patrol altogether that night.

She was a good liar after all.

And anyway, it would be good to be cautious until she knew exactly what was going on. The Hellmouth needed a Slayer right then and she was hardly any good dead, was she?


	3. Chapter 2

Here is chapter 2, i have gotten little feedback so far, but it has been mostly positive so i am taking that as a sign to continue.

I feel Like this note should be longer but honestly have nothing else to say.

Ah well, Enjoy!

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**Chapter 2**

Buffy rolled over in the bed and kissed her mate deeply on the lips.

"Mmmmmm" she said, "That was lovely." He gave her a grin that would best be described as _goofy, _not a word that one usually applied to Angelus. She saw sides of him that no one ever had. That may have had something to do with the fact that those sides hadn't existed until she had met him. When he was around her, her lover wasn't a terrifying cruel demon, he was a lovesick fool, but then so was she.

She giggled at his blissed out expression.

"I love you," she cooed.

"And I you, my darling," he told her. She gave him a happy little smile.

"So," she said brightly, "What _shall_ we do today?"

It was his turn to grin at her. This time the smile was singularly vicious.

* * *

Drusilla was a happy camper. Her family was strong and whole. Her Spike adored her, his princess. And she had everything she could possibly want. Soon all the lovely blood would be theirs. She knew how lucky they were to have this lovely world, too. The current slayer had been a Naughty Girl who had blown out the candles. And now her family was complete.

She shivered when she thought of the other world. A world where her mummy was still the slayer. A world where her daddy had a filthy soul and wallowed in guilt. Where her Spike was not with her. But, thankfully, here everything was lovely and perfect.

She looked over to where Spike was snoring in their bed. She twirled around and gave an eerily happy smile. She glided over to where he lay and planted a kiss on his forehead. He opened his eyes blearily.

"Hello pet," he murmured. He pulled her down on top of him and kissed her on the lips.

"It's an hour 'till sundown, love" he told her.

Drusilla graced him with a beatific smile.

* * *

Willow was looking at Xander suspiciously. He had been a little too interested in that slayer slut. Not that Cordelia Chase wasn't very attractive. Willow certainly wouldn't mind fucking her herself. But Xander was _hers_. He wasn't allowed to even look at anyone else, much less touch them. She reassured herself with the fact that Cordelia Chase was the same vapid tramp who would as soon kill Xander as look at him. Literally now. `

She smoothed her hands over her clothes before stepping into the Master's chamber. Her sire smiled at her.

"Ah, Willow my dear," he said. "Come in my dear child, and you've brought Xander, excellent, excellent."

Nest was happy to have Willow. It was always the people who had been rejected as children who ended up the most vicious vampires. Willow had been a shy babbling geek. Luke, who had been his right hand for so long, had been alienated from childhood because he had been a bastard. Though Luke had been cut down by the current slayer before they had even realized one was among them. And Darla-

Darla, who had been his favorite child before _her_ favorite child had _killed her _to protect the_ slayer…._

She had been raised a whore and though had become a wealthy woman by the end of her life, she had certainly always held the contempt of society.

Willow was a worthy replacement however. She was very obedient, very vicious, still smart, but lacked the cunning that it would take for her to ever be able to rule on her own. She would never be able to be at the top of any power structure. She lacked the native knowledge of how people or demons worked, what made them tick. That knowledge that Angelus had put to use so frequently. The knowledge that Darla clearly lacked when she attacked the young innocent who her own lover had become enamored with.

It was Xander who concerned Nest. Not that the boy was any threat. He was an idiot and for the life of him Nest couldn't understand why Willow wanted him. What worried Nest about the boy was how…lecherous…he was. He certainly didn't look like his eyes were trained firmly on Willow, where they ought to be. Willow hadn't been a vampire very long at all, she was still only a fledgling, but the boy who had once been referred to as King of the Cretins was _her _childe, and had to do whatever he said unless she mated him or he killed her. Willow desired this Xander's total devotion and Nest suspected the boy was not giving it.

Nest was done with the redhead. She had been much more fun as a human and had held his interest for a few weeks after she was turned but since who he was fucking was one of the few things he could change while he was trapped in that underground cave he preferred to do so frequently.

But Willow had been very vicious and eager to please and he only wanted the members of his family to be happy. Though he wouldn't have minded if a few of them had been happy in the sunlight. No one was to harm them, emotionally or otherwise.

Damn that Angelus. Hadn't he told Darla that he would bring nothing but trouble? But she had left with the young fledge, 'young stallion' Nest had called him, who had proceeded to become easily as famous as Nest himself. Nest had changed his mind then about the dark vampire. He was, after all, Angelus of _Aurelius_. He was Nest's grandchilde. He brought honor to the clan.

Nest had demanded another meeting with him around a century and a half after their disastrous first meeting. He had been greeted by a Master vampire, one who had far surpassed Darla, and his two favorite childer. He had greatly admired Drusilla and been slightly wary of Spike. The young vampire was simply too rash. When he told Angelus so, treating him with as much respect as he would afford anyone. Angelus had reminded him if their first meeting.

Nest had been pleased overall with the Master vampire's actions. Darla had been quite pleased to see her childe getting along with her Sire so she was in a good mood at that time. But Nest had already begun to see that she felt Angelus was shoving her aside for his own childer. And Angelus had clearly begun to lose interest in Darla. Furthermore, he couldn't shake the feeling that Angelus was somehow mocking him. A feeling that was exacerbated by the laughter that had echoed down the corridor where the four had exited.

"What is it you wish, Sire?" Willow asked him.

"Some people have come to town," he told her, "some people that you would do well to beware of. Angelus the betrayer, his mate, Buffy, and his childer Spike and Drusilla have arrived in town. They have not informed me of their visit, nor have they attempted to hide it. They may be peaceful or hostile but you would do well to avoid them and not to anger them if you do encounter them. They are extremely dangerous."

Willow scoffed.

"Dangerous? I am not worried, Master. I am capable of looking after myself," she stated self-confidently.

"Yeah," sneered Xander, the impertinent little fuck always had to get a word in and was always gratingly arrogant, Nest ground his teeth together, at least Angelus had style. "Besides. That Buffy is supposed to be one hot piece. I wonder how tough she is without her little boytoy to protect her."

Nest gave an irritated sigh. The young were so stupid these days. As if Willow and Xander, who were still only fledglings despite their status, could even hope to win against Drusilla at her weakest.

"You have no hope of winning against them. I forbid you from making any contact. If they contact you be extremely polite and deferential. They are among the most powerful of our kind in the world and you mere fledglings. It would be suicide for you two to attack."

Nest studied their faces closely and only saw acquiescence in Willow's and irritation in Xander's. Willow was his primary concern. If Xander got dusted Nest wouldn't be terribly upset and Xander was too dense to come up with something on his own. He idly wondered if the boy had been that stupid before he had been turned and decided that it was the only explanation.

They would likely be safe.

He dismissed them with a careless wave of the hand and the two exited his domain. Unusually, no other vampires occupied the underground cave. He needed to think, to reflect alone. His plans were coming together but it would be another little while before he was strong enough to break free of his prison.

If Angelus could be convinced to side with him then it would be only a matter of time before he was free. But how did one convince an extraordinarily dominant being to help another gain power? Nest was not in a good position. Furthermore it was entirely possible that Angelus was not very pleased with Nest. After all, it was he who had been responsible for the repeated attempts on the lives of his family, he worried that the deal in Prague, which had failed much like the rest of his plans, had been traced back to him.

If that was the case then he was monumentally fucked. Angelus was at his most vicious and most calculating when it came to revenge. If that was his purpose then Nest, who was trapped in an underground cave with hundreds of entrances, was not in a good position. Angelus was not a demon to be trifled with after all. Nest knew that much about him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sun had dipped beneath the horizon. Night had come. Around Sunnydale people ate dinner in their homes. Parents read their children bedtime stories. And teenagers flocked to The Bronze. People moved about their lives, ignorant of the others that moved about the night.

The vampires were waking.

Katie Lee was on her way to The Bronze to meet her boyfriend Mike. She glanced at her reflection n the storefront window and nearly crashed into the man moving her way.

"Oh," he said in an amused, cultured tone. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." Katie was about to respond when she looked at him. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

"Oh, wow, sorry." She was breathless. He was looking at her, oh, he was looking at her. And suddenly Katie was walking next to the most, handsome, understanding, guy who totally though she was gorgeous and interesting and they were walking into an alley and he was nodding at her explanation of why Jenni was a total bitch and why the heck would she spell her name like that anyway and-

Angelus dumped her body onto the alley and ran his tongue over his teeth.

"Virgin. Not bad," he said.

"Whiny though," Spike muttered.

"Anyway, shouldn't you be with Dru?"

"She's at the playground with a few minions for protection. She said sommat about Buffy and I thought I'd find you and see if we can find your mate before whatever Dru was talking about happens"

"Children _again_?"

"Yeah, mate, anyway, she said basically that some guy who the current Slayer has the hots for is gonna put the moves on Buff, thought it could be good fun."

"Very likely" agreed Angelus.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mike was getting impatient. Honestly, if Katie wasn't so hot there would be no way he would put up with her. She was always late, and once she was there all she did was complain. He let his eyes wander over the interior of the Bronze. Woah, at a table, by herself, was a totally hot chick who looked like she was about to cry.

Never let it be said that Mike Johnson was bad with the ladies.

"Hey," he said to her. Damn she was hot. Great body, with pouty lips, golden hair, and pretty green eyes. And she certainly wasn't trying to hide her body. All she worse was a black silk tank and a short short skirt. Her bouncy blonde hair was bunched into cute little pig tails and her lower lip was protruding charmingly.

"Hey," she replied softly.

"You okay?" he asked solicitously.

"Yeah," she said, "It's just-"and here she turned to look at him, "I was supposed to be meeting someone and he's really late."

Mike nodded. "Yeah, I know just how you feel." He said. Boy did he ever.

"Do you wanna dance to pass the time?" he asked.

"Oh" she demurred. "I should probably be getting home anyway."

"Want me to walk you?" he asked, persistently charming.

She gave him a smile. "Sure" she said softly.

As he panted after her as she moved to the exit for the alleyway, he missed her eyes roll with the boredom of an easy kill.

* * *

When Angelus and Spike arrived at the club Buffy had just finished her meal and was heading back inside. Her eyes lighted upon Angelus and Spike and she gave a wide smile. She sauntered over their way.

"Hey babe" she giggled, tugging the dark vampires head down for a brief kiss.

"Hello," he drawled.

"What am I? Chop sliver?" Spike grumbled. Buffy giggled and pecked him on the cheek.

"Hey Spike, where's Dru?" she asked. Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Again?" Buffy rolled her eyes.

"I prefer a bit of variety myself" Angelus smirked.

"So what's the what?" the ex-slayer asked.

"Must you talk like one of these irritating adolescents?" her lover asked her.

"Get with the times." Buffy retorted. "These are the Fresh Young Things of this generation. Had I been born more recently I would have grown up talking like this."

"But darling, you're forgetting that these Fresh Young Things-," and here the vampire's lips curved into a predatory smirk, "are merely fresh young morsels."

"Well, duh."

Spike rolled his eyes. When those two got going they could go on for hours. Best not let them get started. If Dru had been right, there was definite potential for bloodshed that night and William the Bloody had no intention of missing out because his Grandsire and Buffy were interested in some verbal sparring. Though, Spike considered, it was really more like foreplay in that case.

"Oh, look," he said with a smirk. "A young lunkhead is coming our way. Might be the boy Dru saw."

"Hmmm?" Oh. Right. Buffy hadn't heard about Dru's latest vision.

"He's the Slayer's boytoy." Spike explained. Angelus grinned. Buffy gave a predatory smile.

"Delightful," she said. "Dibbs."

Spike scowled. "No fair."

A moderately handsome young man walked over to the trio. He was attempting a swagger that did little to hide the nervousness that the vampires could scent.

"Hey," he said in a deep voice. "I'm Devon."

"Hi," said Buffy, sounding for all the world like the perky innocent schoolgirl she wasn't.

"I'm Buffy," she continued, "These are my brothers, Spike and Angel"

Angel let out a low rumble. Despite the fact that in a good seventy years she had never shown even a remote interest in anyone else he was still, as she frequently told him, a possessive bastard. He was no fool, his mate intended to seduce the little fuck and kill him. But she had no interest in him. He doubted she would even kiss him. However he was still intensely jealous.

"Cool," said Devon-soon-to-be-dinner. He nervously nodded to Spike and Angelus. Spike was the picture of brotherly disinterest. Angelus looked to Devon like the sort with a vested interest in breaking his face.

"Do you uh, wanna grab some coffee before I have to play my next set?" the unfortunate teenager asked. Buffy gave him a blinding smile.

"Sure!" she enthused. She trotted off after him as he led her to the espresso machine, Devon frequently glancing at the gorgeous little blonde at his side reassuring himself of his good fortune. Angelus called after her in a low enough voice that only she with her preternatural hearing would detect.

"Keep this one alive, Buff, I want to work on him."


	4. Chapter 3

Here is chapter three. it is a bit brief but i figured i may as well update before my computer goes on the blink again.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Drusilla twirled in a slow, graceful circle.

"Why won't you twirl with me sweet child? Don't you want to play with mummy?"

The corpse that lay on the merry-go-round near to her did not reply.

Xander gave Willow an incredulous glance. "Did that crazy bitch really just talk to that kid?"

"Mmmmm" Willow replied. "Insane, courtesy of Angelus."

"How did she survive so long?"

"Powerful protectors," the redhead replied. "First she was Angelus' favorite childe and plaything and then he made that William for her and apparently he _adores_ her."

"I could not imagine looking after _that_ for over a century."

Willow shrugged from her vantage point behind the bushes. "A weakness," she replied, "one we can exploit."

The maddened vampress froze and slowly turned to face the exact clump of bushes where Willow and Xander were hiding.

She gave them a slow smile that was enough to truly scare the pair.

"Have you come to join the party?"

* * *

"Okay," Buffy sighed. "This is annoying."

"Damn straight," Spike muttered.

Angelus scowled at the pair. Sometimes he wished that Spike and Buffy weren't quite so like minded. When they weren't bickering with each other they were usually making snippy little snide comments.

Devon gave a groan from where he was chained up on the wall.

"Finally," Buffy muttered. Her lover gave her an irritated glance.

"Who knocked him out again?"

"Oh bother, well, I am going to find Dru and see if she's done," Spike said.

"Sure. Fine. Bye." Buffy said, never taking her eyes off Angelus.

Spike sighed. They could get annoyingly _whatever_ at any given moment. Still, he much preferred Buffy to Darla. She was much more fun and rarely , if ever, bossed him around. She was the youngest after all, and despite her status as Angelus' mate, age was very important in vampire hierarchy. And they had similar ideas of fun that Angelus, with his penchant for melodrama, certainly didn't satisfy. But they were still so wrapped up in each other that occasionally it was best simply to leave them be.

He heard Buffy's deep throaty laugh as he exited the house. Rolling his eyes he headed for the park where his dark plum was.

He stalked through the town, ignoring the other vampires there. They were all fledglings, no more than a decade old. He was kind of disappointed not to run into anyone worth fighting but as he walked into the park where Drusilla and a some of their minions were, a wicked grin graced his face.

"Drusilla, darling, why don't you introduce me to your friends, ducks?" he drawled.

Drusilla smiled at him. "My Spike," she crooned, "Some and play with us, won't you?" Spike grinned and sauntered over to stand by her side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her temple.

He turned his head to smirk at the pair of fledglings who were scowling fiercely at the pair. His smirk grew wider. The pair had quite a bit to learn about bluffing.

"So," he said with a cocky grin, "Who are you two kiddies?"

* * *

Willow was Not Scared. Xander was also Not Scared. Unfortunately, that trivial little fact did not seem to stop the sheer terror that rippled through their unmoving veins.

"I could ask you the same question," Xander sneered. Willow felt profound relief. Xander was almost never at a loss for words. Not like her. Not like shy bookish Willow. But she wasn't that girl anymore, she reminded herself.

The handsome vampire with the bleached blonde hair gave a short barkish laugh.

"Well, well, well," he said, "Look what we have here pet, wanker's got bollocks all right. Or does he? What is that I scent? Terror perhaps? Go on pet, tell us your names then," he addressed Willow.

Willow glowed as haughtily as she could manage at the pair. "I don't see how it's any of your business," she said, proud of her unwavering voice.

"So young," the crazy one crooned, "Such little children. They want to play but it's past their bedtime. And-," and here she gave them a stern look, "Naughty children have to go night-night."

The bleached one grinned viciously. "Very true, my sweet."

Willow was beginning to suspect that night-night was a euphemism. Just as she was trying to decide what to do while ignoring the not-insignificant amount of terror she felt, Xander spoke up.

"I'm Xander," he said with an impressive amount of bravado, "And this, is Willow. We're with the Master," he said, hoping that the use of one of the most powerful vampires in history would frighten the newcomers. No such luck.

"Oh," said the vampire Xander had deemed Captain Peroxide, "The Master, well, I guess we'd better run home and hide then. Tell me, how is old batface these days?"

"He's good," Willow snapped, "He's powerful. He's getting free soon."

The blonde shook his head dismissively. "Been saying that for a century, mate."

"Ooooooh," moaned the crazy one, "The party is starting and daddy is sending the Slayer her invitation. She's going to come and visit soon."

"The Slayer?" Xander leered.

Spike rolled his eyes.

"Yes mate, sometimes we kill 'em, see?" he said. He ran his eyes over the pair, terrifying them both. There was something so cold and merciless in that gaze that Willow found herself unable to move. Then suddenly, contempt filled his eyes and he rolled them.

"Come on baby," he said to his companion, "Let's go make sure we're on time for the party then."

Turning their backs on Willow and Xander, a true sign of contempt, they stalked off into the night.

"I don't like them," Xander said.

* * *

Cordelia was bummed out. She had been 10 minutes late to The Bronze which normally would have been fine because, hello! She was Cordelia Chase and people _had_ to wait for her. But Devon never seemed to grasp that fact and her boyfriend seemed uninterested in waiting around for her to show up. When she got there, the band was still taking a break but Devon was nowhere to be found.

She asked around and no one had any idea where he was although a few people mentioned he had been talking to a blonde girl. It was five minutes until The Dingoes Ate My Baby where set to begin their nest set and he was still no where to be found when she began to worry. He would never miss an opportunity to sing, insisting that to skip even one song would be tantamount to career suicide. Oz frowned on her left side.

"This isn't like him," he stated in his usual monotone. "Do you think…."

Codelia narrowed her eyes. Oz was one of the few who knew about the less human residents who lived in their quiet little town. After his geeky girlfriend and that loser, Harris, were vamped he had been a well, decent ally.

"If your freaky little girlfriend did anything to Devon…."she trailed off threateningly.

"They said he was with a blonde."Oz reminded her. "No one knows who she was," he continued, "And she was with a few other guys too."

Cordelia narrowed her perfectly made up eyes. If a vamp had killed her boyfriend so help her God….

"I'm going hunting" she announced. Oz nodded.

She had left the Bronze an hour ago and there was still no sign of Devon. She decided to go home and try calling his house to see if he had gotten suddenly ill or something.

Yes, that was it. He had vomited all over that skanky little blonde tramp because he was allergic to her noxious perfume and had gone home to try to get well enough to get down on his knees and beg for her forgiveness.

She entered her family's mansion and headed to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and some fruit. She glanced at the chocolate cake in her fridge. It was tempting to have a piece, her slayer metabolism would likely burn it off before morning. But there was a dance coming up and her thighs were just a tiny too jiggle-y. She grabbed the spring water and some of her mother's diet pills instead. She stalked up to her bedroom. The live in maid was in courters by now, her father was somewhere in Switzerland, and her mother was on a "girls retreat to Tahiti" aka, fucking the gardener somewhere in L.A. She had the house to herself.

She rounded to corner to her bedroom and paused. Something didn't feel quite right. Before she would have dismissed the feeling as idiocy but now….Now she was a little more cautious.

"Maria?" she called. "Are like, tu aqui?" No one answered. She pulled a stake out. She was very careful about who she invited in but what if…..

"Maria?" she called again. She slowly twisted the knob on her door and opened it quickly shutting it behind her, she took a fighting stance, with a stake in her raised arms. She looked around the room on relief. No one was there. She checked her bathroom and under her bed, as childish as it was, and relieved, prepared to go to bed.

Halfway through brushing her teeth she realized she had completely forgotten to call Devon. She quickly rinsed and dashed over to the phone to try his house. At the very least, his mother would be home. She dialed his number. It rang once, twice and…

"Hello?" his mother said, sounding tired. Or like she had a cold. Whatever.

"Hi, "she said shortly, "This is Cordelia, I'm calling because I was supposed to meet Devon at the Bronze and he never showed up, even though he was supposed to be playing. Is he like, sick or something?"

She heard a faint murmur in the background before his mother replied, "Sick, Yes. He's sick."

"Oh. Okay, well tell him to get better soon and all that," the brunette said, her worries assuaged.

"Of course," his mother said faintly, "Well, goodnight to-"Cordelia hung up.

"Ugh" she muttered. Glancing at the clock she realized she only had about 5 hours of beauty sleep. Ridiculous. Why the hell did school have to start so early? Sighing impatiently she made her way over to her dark blue silk canopy bed. She shut off the lights, pulled on her sleeping mask, and attempted to get comfortable under her sheets. Something wet dripped on her face.

She sat up in shock. A leak in the ceiling? No way. Nothing could make this day crappier. She wiped finger over the water and turned on her lamp. If she had bothered to look she would have noticed that he index finger had a reddish tint to it. As it was, once she turned on her lamp and looked at the underside of her canopy bed-

And screamed.

Outside her window, Angelus smiled. "So you've gotten my present," he murmured, too quiet for even her to hear, "Now come out and play little girl, let's see what you've got."

Cordelia was in shock.

"Ohgod,ohgod, ohgod," she said. "Ohhh."

There, nailed to her ceiling, was the horribly mutilated body of her boyfriend.

I was definitely Devon, who ever had done this to him had obviously been careful not to do much to his face. It looked like his teeth were missing and his eyes were horribly open but…

God she couldn't even look at him. OH! Dear lord, how had they gotten him in her house? They had gotten him into her house!

"Giles!" she breathed. He would know what to do. She made her way over to the phone and dialed his number with shaky fingers.

He would know what to do.

* * *

Please Review. It makes me happy :)


	5. Chapter 4

**_I don't know why, but I was totally sure I had already uploaded this chapter, I was actually uploading chpater 5 just now when I realized that I hadn't actually put this one up. I feel a tad stupid. Oh, well. _**

**_Here it is, late, with my apologies. _**

**_(it's also kinda short, so chapter 5 will be uploaded in the next few days)_**

**_-Sinangeled_**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Giles didn't know what to do. There wasn't a whole lot of research available on the unholy quartet that he suspected was responsible for the torture and death of his Slayer's boyfriend. What there was dealt mostly with their accomplishments. There was precious little to suggest any weaknesses or tactics that Cordelia might be able to employ against them.

He glanced over at the girl who was huddled on his couch. She was in shock unfortunately. She really didn't care when her classmates were killed because she usually didn't see them until they rose or their bodies were never found. She had never seen anyone she knew actually die. But this boy had meant something to the egotistical brunette and she had seen the aftermath of obviously traumatic death. She was now being forced to face her own mortality while she was already grieving for a boy she had apparently cared about.

Showing a rare amount of emotion she looked up at him with miserable, guilt-ridden eyes. "He liked me," she said, "wanted to know about stupid little things, like if I liked to swing when I was little, never talked about what I wore, never told me I looked great in whatever I was wearing, just wanted to know me. He actually cared. About me, Cordy. Not Queen C of Sunnydale. Me. And I gave him such a hard time because he was always forgetting things. Because he didn't fearfully worship me, just kinda liked me. God, Giles…"

What could he do?

"I'm so sorry," he said awkwardly. He took a few steps closer, hesitantly trying to reach out to her. She shuddered and sat up, hiccupping a little.

Giles doubted that she had cared that much for the boy in life but he knew all to well how once someone was dead they lived on in the minds of most as a special person they cared for deeply. There was nothing wrong with it. It was simply in human nature. Giles had only come across a few honest enough to admit when someone they knew vaguely had died of an accident with a barbeque fork that they were more disturbed by the thought of their own mortality than the passing of another.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "He was in my room!" Yes, Giles knew that. "Vampires got into my house!" Giles was surprised and a little disturbed that the importance of that fact had not yet occurred to her.

"Well, yes," he coughed, "you will have to stay somewhere else tonight until we can find a way to perhaps reverse the invitation spell? If such a thing exists….. Perhaps you could give one of your friends a ring?" he stated.

All traces of the grieving girlfriend were gone in that instant. She gave him a look that seriously questioned his sanity.

"Are you crazy?" she demanded. "Do you know what that would do to my social status? I would be the gossip of the week! No. I'm staying here." She decided to Giles' extreme discomfort.

"As the victim I will be taking the bed. You can have the couch." And with that she swept out of the room and further into his condo.

Giles pushed his hand through his hair and sighed.

Later that night he was still awake and lounging on his couch as his Slayer was no doubt asleep in his very comfortable bed. He glanced at the clock and discovered that it was three in the morning. He intended to wake up at six in the morning. He sighed.

"She's traumatized," he reminded himself. "She would never behave so rudely otherwise."

"But you don't _really_ believe that," a feminine voice purred. Giles sat up blot right with and reached for a stake.

"Oh please," the disembodied voice said with amusement and irritation as it drifted across the room, "spare me the theatrics. I'm not here to kill you." The light was turned on.

"There," an exquisite petite girl spoke with satisfaction. Giles' eyes widened, and not because of her remarkable beauty, but because she was so familiar. His mind flashed back to a scene decades ago when he was still "Ripper" and was practicing dark magicks after dropping out of the university.

"You were there." He stated.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p', "I could hardly let you die, after all, you were going to be important"

Giles remembered how he had been crossing the street one dark gloomy night when a car had come careening towards him. The alcohol in his system had slowed his reaction time and as he had been sure he was going to die. But a pretty little blonde in a bright pink minidress had pushed him out of the way and saved his life. She had helped him up and dismissed his stammering thanks and walked him home. He had been tempted to ask her in but had seen a ring on her finger.

"Dear lord, I almost asked you in!" he exclaimed.

"It's a good thing you didn't," she stated serenely. "Cause my boyfriend is the jealous type."

Giles shuddered. Some of the things Angelus had done in jealously were so horrible that they wouldn't allow the new recruits to the Council to see them until they were seated with a bucket nearby. To think he had come that close to such a painful, gory death…..

He shuddered. "How did you get in?" he asked, stating the obvious. She shrugged gracefully.

"My little secret," she said.

"What do you want?" he asked, the next obvious question.

"Info. To see you. It's interesting," she continued, "How different you are from the rest of them. That Cordelia is a lucky girl," she complimented him, then frowned. "Or not so lucky now that I think about it."

Giles blinked, then remembered.

"Good lord," he whispered. Considering how Buffy had been treated by the Council… assuming this was Buffy, though it seemed most likely she was.

"So you are, Buffy Summers," he stated, "Former slayer and current paramour of the Scourge of Europe?"

"Yeah," she said, rolling her eyes dismissively, "But that's not really what you want to ask me, is it?"

No, it was not. "What with the way you were treated by members of the Council…." He trailed off.

"I hold the entire entity responsible," she hissed. "Believe me, it wasn't coincidence that I had so many terrible Watchers, or that the Council never did anything to help me or my loved ones. They are all corrupt. So I am not the biggest fan, no."

Giles didn't know what to say to the obviously enraged vampires, whose temper was famous for both its deadliness.

She suddenly smirked at him. "Would you also be wondering if, by chance, I and my family are responsible for the death of your little friend?"

Giles met her gaze steadily, a hint of rage beginning to tint his own vision, a Watcher who had been a mentor and friend had died in a brutal vampire attack. Written in his blood, on the wall of his family's library the Latin world for betrayer had been written. He had been killed slowly and torturously.

"William Downing? You fiend!" he spat. She waved her hand.

"Besides the point. Did you know he voted to experiment with unstable steroids and human growth hormone on Lelia?"

"The Slayer?" Giles gasped.

"Yep," she said, "It was actually his idea, so that's why I went after him. To kill all the Watchers who voted for it would have been slightly less dramatic, I wanted them to know why he died. The rest of them received presents. Lelia wasn't turned into a lab rat. And all was well in the world, except for well, a lot of other stuff. But that's beside the point."

"But you kill Slayers yourself!" Giles protested.

"Only the weak ones," she said, "And the Council sometimes does that anyway. At least I kill them with dignity. But anyway, you are more sheep-like then I expected (inside Rupert, Ripper snarled) which, though quite disappointing, hopefully won't hinder both your survival instinct and your logic. So tell me," she said, "what do you know about the Master?"

Giles spluttered. "The Master?" She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, real ugly guy, a bit daft in the head, and, oh yeah, he's a centuries old vampire who is trapped beneath this otherwise idyllic little hellhole."

"Why do you want to know?" he demanded.

"So I can kill him," she replied, adding a very un-vampiric "duh!"

"But why-"

"Rupert," she said in a commanding tone, "just talk."

And he did.

* * *

I love reviews, and the feedback is always helpful. Plus, I write faster. It's a win/win/win.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, so here is chapter 5. I am making pretty good progress with this story and have started writing the next chapter of blindness, unfortunately I am still not quite sure where that is going. But i hope to finish the chapter within the next two weeks or so, my classes permitting. **

**Without further ado, here it is. **

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"We need to tell him!" Willow insisted.

"Like hell!" spat Xander, "We do that and we are dust."

At least, he would be dust because he was pretty sure that the Master wasn't all that fond of him. That was mostly okay with Xander. The threat the Master presented was certainly unwelcome but Xander wasn't all that fond of the Master either. In fact, if he had his way, the Master would be dust. Preferably quite soon. But he, Xander, had a plan. A good plan that he was hoping very very much would bring him the position of power he craved. It had simply never occurred to him why the Master, despite being so cruel, so inflexible, and so very old was still the most powerful vampire in the world. Despite being told so, the idea that age brought strength was still alien to Xander.

So he didn't quite realize that his plan to kill the oldest, most powerful vampire he had ever met, was doomed to an extremely painful failure.

"We can tell him that we saw them," he allowed, "that's hardly a crime, but tell him that we…"

"Insulted them?" Willow suggested.

"Yeah, all kind of badness, Will" he said softly. Willow acquiesced. Never the bravest in life, she was still falling back in the old pattern of deference to everyone around her, despite her new, powerful status. It never really occurred to the redhead that listening to Xander had gotten her in trouble more times then she could count. She chose not to think about his poor judgment. And she definitely wasn't thinking about his innate selfishness, no siree, not thinking about that at all.

Spike smirked at them as he watched them lead him right back to the easiest route of access to the Master's lair, confirming what the Watcher had told Buffy. Denial was such a dangerous thing. Useful though. After all, it was going to lead them right to their intended prey. _See ya in hell, batface_, he thought.

* * *

"This is good," Buffy said, "We are well on our way to, well, is it tacky to say it?"

"World domination?" Spike said with his usual sarcasm.

"Nothing so time consuming as that," Angelus rolled his eyes. "It's simply getting annoying fending off those so called assassins"

"One of those so-called-assassins nearly killed Dru!" Spike snapped.

"Now boys," Buffy drawled, "this is not the time for bickering." Angelus shot her a look and she gracefully rolled her eyes at him.

"The bad children are telling naughty lies," Drusilla sang out. Angelus smiled cruelly.

"No worries Dru, the truth will come out," he said. Buffy stood up briskly.

"Well!" she said brightly, "Let's get this done, sooner we kill the Master and all of his minions, the sooner I can get that back massage you promised me!" Angelus looked at her bemusedly. She still loved the fight with an intense joy that told of her former status as a warrior. She was simply itching to fight, and she was desperate to hide it so he wouldn't tease her.

Ah, well, it was not as if a little exertion now and then wasn't good for you. And hunting his own kind had always been fairly enjoyable to Angelus. They always took it so personally, when in reality all they were to him were a more difficult prey. Tasted foul though. Buffy, on the other hand, loved it, and he wanted her to be happy so they often hunted anyone who offered them the slightest insult. It was good sport actually.

He gave a nod of conformation and stopped polishing his long claymore.

Spike let out a whoop. "Excellent! We going then? I'll tell the minions."

Angelus was not feeling too optimistic about Sunnydale High's survival rate. Considering all the students he had killed along with other resident and the fact that they were a local food source for the very large group of vampires that lived in and under Sunnydale… Well, he hoped that none of the remaining students were too attached to their classmates.

Buffy grabbed her red scythe. It was a tool designed for killing vampires. Angelus had given it to her when she was still human and she cherished it fondly. _A Slayer's weapon_, he had told her, _for the best of the Slayers._ When she had asked him where he had gotten it he had shrugged her off and done what she had referred to at the time as his man of mystery act.

Whenever she held it she knew that her mind went back into Slayer mode. She looked at every vampire in the room as a target save Angelus who, of course, had established himself as an ally to her long before she had even known his full name, much less his identity.

She hungered for the hunt and as she, her lover, and the vampire she had come to see as her brother, exited the room, a feral smile graced her beautiful, deadly face.

* * *

Willow and Xander weren't procrastinating. Much.

Well, yes, they might have been avoiding responding to the Master's summons but really, Xander assured Willow, they weren't procrastinating if they had a purpose.

They made their way through the labyrinthine tunnels that snaked through Sunnydale's underground. Even Willow's characteristic babbling that had not even ceased despite her newly found status as an immortal, did not pollute the silence that pervaded the room like some great jungle cat, as it slithered after them.

The Master rarely summoned them both, usually he simply summoned Willow who would then pass on whatever he wanted to say to Xander. What with the recent errors they had made in dealing with the newcomers they feared the worst.

And the worst that the Master could manage was very very very bad.

* * *

Dusk had fallen in Sunnydale again. In the library at Sunnydale High School, Cordelia and Giles sat in silence. Neither of their homes were safe so they had chosen to ensconce themselves in familiar territory away from any unsuspecting innocents who might get in the way.

"What was she like?" Cordelia asked.

"What?"Giles responded, startled out of the silence.

"Buffy. What was she like?" she asked.

Giles was unsure what she meant.

"What do you mean?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "My God, what was she like, looks, attitude, clothes, whatever. Are all you Watchers so dumb? 'Cause if so, I can totally see why that Scrounge-guy killed them all."

Giles found irritation and anger rising in his chest and firmly suppressed them. "Why do you wish to know?" Cordelia froze.

"Uh, just bored, my god, do you like, normally sit still doing nothing for hours? No wonder you're so boring."

Willing to do just about anything to get Cordelia to shut up at this point, Giles decided just to tell her, though heaven knows why she would care, she had certainly never taken an interest in information before.

"She appeared to be quite intelligent, certainly in control of herself-" he began.

"Whatever," Cordelia said. "What did she look like?" Giles was a tad confused.

"Ah, she was ah, blonde" he said, "petite, perhaps five foot one to five foot three, quite slim, pretty-". Though Giles knew that to be one of the understatements of the century. No wonder she had attracted the attention of Angelus as more than a victim, if her feats as the Slayer were enough to give him interest then her looks would certainly have stopped him from simply snapping her neck.

"Prettier than I am?" Cordelia demanded. Blast. What was he to say?

"Ah," he began, "I am not well suited to judge." That was good. But was it enough? Cordelia opened her mouth with an expression that Giles felt his eyelid twitch upon seeing. He hurried to head her off.

"Not much difference with her human visage showing, I would suppose." he lied easily, "But she is a vampire, remember?"

That would do nicely. Giles was very proud. Dealing with Cordelia on a daily basis had prepared him well wither for work as a diplomat or perhaps a few years in an asylum. His eye twitched again.

Cordelia, appeased, did not comment other than to give a small smug smile.

"Now," Giles said, "As it does not appear that we have been attacked yet, we are either doomed or may only have to be on guard for a few more hours. Assuming it is the later, we may be able to do some research on The Master."

When Cordelia began to whine and moan he did not for even one second wish that he had a slayer who was Council trained, he did not even wish to have someone like Buffy Summers or the British girl who had preceded her and had been known for her wonderful manners and kind attitude. Though strength of character, courage, and resourcefulness that Buffy had apparently possessed would not have come amiss.

He glanced over at the bored brunette and sighed. She was really only a scared, slightly selfish girl who, despite her many faults, had a good soul. He had met her parents once and found them to be singularly unappealing people. They were likely responsible for much of the bad that Cordelia possessed and probably none of the good.

He was struck by the malleability of human nature and yet…. He had seen Cordelia nearly get herself killed once. She had found the mangled body of a young girl who had died horribly. She had taken it to heart and recklessly hunted the vampire duo responsible. After she had killed them she had broken down and cried. He knew that for all her acting she was deeply sensitive and deserved a chance to grow up happily. And it was his duty to see that grow up she did.

* * *

Buffy frowned. One thing that she did not possess was a good sense of direction. Above ground, fine, not an issue. Underground, well, not so much. Her senses were going haywire down in the tunnels and she wished that there was a more direct access route. She sneaked a glance across to look at Angelus.

He strode with his characteristic smirk on his face, carrying his broadsword almost carelessly, though she knew that he did not even need the half second that their enemies would give before they attacked to bring his sword up and lop off their heads. Or limbs if needed. Her mate certainly would never be described as merciful by anyone.

"Angel," she said, "are we there yet?" a teasing tone in her voice. He gave her a wry look.

"My impatient darling," he drawled, "we'll get there when we get there." She grinned at him and then yawned.

"Better be soon, my love, I'm getting quite bored. Someone will be dying in the nest few-oh!"

Angelus had taken point and now he held up a careless hand. Buffy and Spike were flanking him and they halted as well. Behind them, their group of about 100 minions halted as well. One smelled the other vampires and darted forward, eager to fight.

As he reached the turn that would bring him to the passage that lead to the Master's cave, he came within the reach of Angelus' arm span. The dark vampire grabbed him by the neck. Buffy ripped his heart out. As he collapsed into dust, she raised an eyebrow at the small army behind her.

"Rule number one," she said in a dry tone, "_don't_ be stupid."

"Rule number two," Angelus drawled, "Wait for orders."

Spike rolled his eyes. Minions.

"Well, let's get this show on the road lover," Angelus drawled. "Shall we?"

"Charmed, I'm sure," Buffy replied.

Spike rolled his eyes again. Oh his grandsire and Buffy with their cute little need for witty banter, it was almost endearing, like puppies that needed to show each other their teeth and nip just to-

They started moving and Spike was not about to miss out on the action. Demons, he reflected, like Buffy had so often said, were simply much more fun to kill then humans, a light workout was needed now and then after all.

The master was eating someone when they entered the cave and courteous behavior dictated they wait. So naturally they attacked right away.

In a matter of minutes, all of the Master's minions present were dead. So were a decent amount of their vamps as well, but that was really of no consequence. They were newly made and completely disposable.

"Wow," Angelus smirked, "really love what you've done with the place, Nest. It has that air of pathetic decay that you just don't see enough of these days."

Henriech Joseph Nest was aghast. Never had he anticipated that his subtle maneuverings against Angelus and his family would lead to this. This had never been considered a possibility.

"Prague." Angelus said. Nest froze. This, this was, well, this was, This- was-

"Your fatal mistake" the dark vampire continued. "The first few times we came, well, admittedly not very close to death, we dismissed it as the work of an amateur. The Watcher's Council perhaps, but then too many of the attacks were perpetrated by vampires. Vampires who knew enough not to be captured, who were loyal enough and well-trained enough to commit suicide, rather than reveal any information. That narrowed the possibilities considerably."

It was true. There were only a handful of vampires powerful enough to retain that kind of power and who had possessed the abilities to engineer the attack in Prague.

"The mob was a good idea," Angelus said. "Getting humans to do your dirty work leaving them with no memories, a decent idea and one that may have worked if your chosen targets are a bunch of blundering fools. However," he continued, "As not I nor my family are that caused our lasted insipid plan to fail, much as the last, oh what was it?"

"A dozen at least", commented Buffy.

"It also was a bit odd that the attacks only started after Darla was finally dusted," said Spike, "It wasn't too hard to see that after that bitch was killed a bunch of nancy vamps started popping up with stakes and empty faces."

"Quite," said Angelus. "Where was I?"

"Telling him how stupid he was," Buffy reminded him helpfully.

"Ah, yes, thank you my love, one of your retainers allowed himself to be captured. The man was fool enough to tell one of the humans his actual name and he was easy enough to track down after that. You see, at first we thought the humans involved were simply violent and foolish but once we really set into the torture a few interesting thing became apparent.

They knew we were vampires, but thought that there was no such thing, bit of an oddity, wouldn't you say, Nest?"

"You were easily enough connected after that. It did take a while to break your agent though, it was simply amazing that it took a whole week to convince him that giving you up was the better choice but I haven't been so challenged in physical torture since, gosh, I was a few decades old, mental is really a bit more up my alley you know. But after the third day I knew he was your man, Nest, because you see, he had broken, he just couldn't tell me what I wanted to hear. There is no other vampire as powerful as you that is quite so singularly stupid. So before I pushed his pain past what his mind could take and retrieved the actual information, we really already knew."

Angelus looked at Nest with contempt.

"You tried to kill myself and my family. That was a grave error. Though you failed, Dru was hurt badly and I must say that I am deeply displeased. My displeasure is not to be incurred lightly."

Nest was as close to fear as he had ever been but still, he had several plans he could put in action. There were, in fact, a decent number of vampires who he had only just made. Their bodies were scattered around the cave. They were due to rise any minute and should provide him with what would at least be a distraction, and he had plenty of vampires that hadn't been attending his court when Angelus had mounted his attack. He could still get out of this if only-

Angelus shrugged. "Well, it's been fun Nest, really, but I have other appointments to keep so if you'd be kind enough to die quickly-"and then he stepped forward, sword in hand.

Luckily, that was around the time Willow and Xander entered his cavern. "Willow!" Nest shouted.

The vampire pair looked stunned. Inconceivable that some newcomers could manage to defeat the Master, long held to be the most powerful vampires in North America, though if you were to ask him, he would certainly say the world.

Nevertheless, Willow quickly sprang into action, attacking one of the quartet's minions and managing to knock him out. Xander still hadn't moved from where he stood frozen at one of the entrances to the cave, unsure what to do.

"Come here childe!" Nest commanded. Willow came. Buffy stepped forward, her scythe in hand.

Nest put his hands on the redhead's shoulders, channeling her powerful untapped magic. Every other vampire in the room was thrown back and knocked unconscious. The Master breathed deeply. Disaster had just barely been diverted.

"Master," Willow asked, "what-"

"Silence." Nest snapped. He took another deep breath. They had come so very very close to killing him. He, who was the most powerful and feared vampire in the world, nearly killed by a few of his line. A disaster. And he had brought it upon himself. He suspected that it was merely his actions that had roused Angelus and his childre. Had no one been injured… On the other hand, if it had been Angelus's mate, the deadly delicate beauty the dark vampire was so obsessed with, well, Nest had a feeling that the death that would have been the most painful the dark vampire could have envisioned and Nest was one of the few who had actually seen what Angelus was capable of.

He had actually been slightly afraid. Afterwards he had famously called him, 'the most vicious creature I've ever met'. He did not relish the thought of finding out just how vicious he could be.

"Willow, take Angelus and Spike away. Chain them up somewhere to be tortured. Xander!" he snapped, but he was still unconscious with the rest. He shook his head angrily.

"Fine then, Willow, stake all of the minions present"

The redhead looked nervous. "Before or after I-"

"Before, before, you silly girl." The Master moaned. "Oh why was I so cursed with my childre? Angelus was to have sat at my right hand come the day, and then this slayer comes along, well no more, I will make her pay for what she has done. And perhaps find out just what made her so appealing to Angelus!"

Willow picked up a pike and got to work.

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_**So, did you like it? Feedback is greatly appreciated as always :)**_


	7. Chapter 6

This is the second to last chapter of this story, unless I (and I may) include an epilogue. Because of this, I am not going to update Blindness until I finish this story, though I AM working on the next chapter. I don't like having lots of unfinished stories posted so I'd like to complete this. I will probably update this next weekend. :)

Thanks and enjoy!

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**Chapter 6**

Angelus came to slowly, shaking his head, the last thing he could remember was-

"Fuck!" he hissed, and opened his eyes. He was in a pretty standard issue torture chamber. Nothing original, he noted as he glanced around, and nothing that his constitution couldn't take. It was unlikely that even if he were here for decades, that whatever fool Nest sent to torture him would actually do any good. As if he could ever be broken. Fools.

He noted that he was half naked with a roll of his eyes. That was stupid. The vulnerability that total nakedness offered to most humans (not that it really bothered him at all) was unachieved with only his shirt removed. He idly wondered who wanted to see him with his shirt off.

No, he really didn't have to worry about himself at all. However, he had no idea what had happened to Buffy and Spike, or for that matter, if Dru was safe above ground or if something had happened to her.

But Buffy… He could live without Spike or Dru for all he would mourn their passing. Spike was a decent companion for all he was occasionally (well, frequently might be a more fitting word) annoying and obnoxious, and Dru was his masterpiece, his finest creation. But he didn't love either of them. At all. Generally, demon's didn't love. Dru cared for Spike but it wasn't love, and she felt affection for Buffy and strong affection for him but it wasn't love. Spike, on the other hand, had always been a fool for love.

The emotion had never touched him until he had been enchanted by a lovely small blonde who was so much a fierce little kitten to the deadly predator that he was. He might have taken her as a lover then, or even changed her but then he had discovered that she was not a kitten at all.

Oh no, his girl was a tigress when roused. And she burned. She was everything and all and eternity and he wanted her to be his eternity. She was deeply loyal and fierce and alive and witty and brave and it had come as a shock to him one day when he realized that he had spent a better part of a year helping her fight other demons in return for nothing other than the intoxicating pleasure of her company.

He had actually been dating the girl. Kissing her, taking her for moonlight strolls after a joint patrol, acting like a normal human man in love with a normal human girl. He had been horrified at first, to learn he actually _cared_, that he had been acting so pathetically human, and that- well,

And then Darla had shown up, and she had attacked Buffy and then he had staked the woman he had spent his entire unlife with and it was revealed to Buffy who he really was and despite it, and the look of despair and lovely pure agony in her green eyes-

She still loved him. It had been so obvious to him and his dead heart had stirred within his chest and he had known that he, Angelus, Scourge of Europe, had fallen in love with a slayer.

Nothing had ever been the same since that day. But now his love, his golden delicious deadly mate was absent and unconscious. Not dead thankfully. The strange bond they had always shared let him know that she was still alive and not in any sort or pain.

He would get free and he would find her. And if anyone who touched her was smart, they would kill themselves before he found them.

He heard the quiet whisper of movement outside the underground room he was chained in and assumed that his tormentors were arriving. Whoever it was (only one vampire he was surprised to say) paused outside the doorway. He understood. Torture was a very personal act, and a highly mental task. Whoever was out there was probably centering themselves and getting prepared. They were also an amateur, an idiot, or both.

This was Nest after all, who wasn't highly tolerant of anyone with half a brain.

The door swung open to reveal the little redhead trussed up to look like a dominatrix.

"Hello puppy" she purred, rubbing a whip against her thigh. Angelus looked at her for a moment, stunned.

Then he let out an echoing, roaring laugh that was heard all throughout the underground.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spike woke up to the sound of dripping water. He looked around. He was locked in a small cave-like room. It was wet. Also, damp and cold. He sniffed the air. It stank.

Bloody hell, did it stink. Maybe that was Nest's plan. Torture him to death with the stink. Yeah.

His head felt fuzzy. He was concerned for a moment about how intact his brain may or may not be.

Shaking his head, he headed for what he was pretty sure was the door. It was a little fuzzy. He was dizzy. Maybe he should sit down? No. That was the nancy thing to do. Like a poof. And he was _not_ a poof.

He was Spike! William the awful, no bloody? Nah, Bloodless?

He still felt dizzy.

He tried the door. It turned out the small cave-like room he was in wasn't actually locked.

Despite his confusion and pain, Spike grinned. Bloody idiots.

Buffy opened her eyes blearily. Her senses were going mad, indicating that others not of her family were near her. Someone very old and powerful. She opened her eyes to see the Master peering at her from across the now empty cave.

"I think that's cheating, you know," she commented. The Master ignored her. She was extremely uncomfortable around him. She definitely wasn't the Slayer anymore, but some of the abilities remained. She simply wasn't comfortable around most vampires. It had taken her decades to get used to Spike and Dru's presence.

"It has often made me curious," he said in a voice Buffy found highly annoying, "what it was about _you_, that was different." Buffy looked at him for a moment, and then rolled her eyes.

"Okay. I'll play," she said, "What do you mean different?"

"Why should he choose _you_" the Master emphasized, "when he could have had any other woman on the planet. He killed my childe, Darla, who had been with him for a century and a half, who was powerful and ancient and beautiful, for you. And you were but a _child_. Just a pretty little slayer, and you were _human_!"

Buffy looked at the Master, unsure exactly what to say. She had asked Angelus this once and he had explained it to her but it wasn't and explanation she was willing to share with Nest, even if she could.

"He's easily bored." She told him. "So impatient, and no one could really keep up. Darla was his sire. You know what that means. But there wasn't really any affection there, much less love from what he's told me. They were companions, nothing more."

"She was his sire!"Nest snarled angrily.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "She was also an idiot. He was a master vampire in his own right, had been for decades. He was stronger than she was, and she acted like she had the power in that relationship. It was going to end. I was just the catalyst."

Nest snarled angrily. "Well he is going to pay," he said, "and so are you. Vampire or not," he snarled, "you're still a slayer."

Buffy was pissed. Seriously? How many times did she have to tell people? She _wasn't_ the slayer.

"And your blood will be powerful enough to free me!" he declared madly. Buffy was actually a bit scared. The Master was whacked, far more so than she had been warned to expect. And that bit about her blood? It did not bode well.

"And so what?" she replied caustically. "D'you honestly think that I am going to just sit here and let you kill me?"

The Master looked at her with terrifying eyes. She felt her limbs begin to move of their own accord as she was slowly dragged over to him. Buffy felt panic rise in her stomach, a faint fluttery feeling. _Oh, God._ She thought,_ please let this work out. _

She struggled against the pull but she was right by the Master and unable to do anything. She struggled as he made a gesture with his right hand and her neck tilted to the side of her own accord. He placed one taloned hand on her shoulder and another on her neck and leaned in.

Buffy closed her eyes.

Angelus was in a bad mood at that particular moment of his unlife. He was supposed to have killed Nest, triumphantly taken over the Aurelians, and had rather been hoping to indulge in some truly fantastic sex at that point, as a sort of victory celebration. He supposed there was some sexual activity of some sort taking place at that moment but he, who had committed just about every known variation of the act and a few that were not, was a bit taken aback at what was transpiring. This Willow appeared to be trying to well, he wasn't actually sure what she was trying to do. But it was certainly not very sexy though she seemed to be enjoying herself.

It was the oddest combination of torture and sex he had ever had the misfortune to encounter. And though he was unhappy it could easily be managed until-

Buffy. She was scared. And his glorious brave love didn't scare easily. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Angelus snarled in frustration. Though he didn't doubt his ability to get out eventually, he couldn't now. He strained against the chains with all his might and failed to break free.

Willow, oh she was going to be dying painfully all right, laughed at him.

"Aw," she crooned. "Is puppy upset?"

"You're going to die bitch," he snarled, "And anyone who had laid a hand on Buffy would be wise to kill themselves because when I find you…" He laughed softly.

"When I find you, you are going to pay me back with your pain tenfold for any injury to my girl."

And there was such menace in his soft voice that Willow forgot for a moment that he was chained and took a step back in fear.

Spike stumbled down the hallway. Even as his balance and ability to hold himself upright improved his mood grew progressively darker. Damn Peaches and his lack of planning. This was all his fault. Yeah.

"Dru," He murmured. She hadn't entered the cave with them because she was still weak and was too easily hurt. They hadn't expected many of their minions to survive and so decided not to risk a family member. She had stayed above ground at their mansion, whining pitifully. Was she safe? He hoped so.

He didn't know where Angelus or Buffy were either. His senses were dulled and he couldn't feel either of them. But if he had been left alive then he was betting they were too. And they could look after themselves just fine.

He hesitated. Angelus could. But Buffy? She was tough yeah, but still almost, innocent or something. The worst that had ever happened to her was not really bad at all. Just the guilt and terror for her friends that Angelus had brought about when he was, well, stalking her. And that all went away once he brought her over. She had just been pissed he didn't leave anyone for her to kill.

And he liked Buffy, it was almost a sibling kind of thing, and they were actually friends, Spike cared about her. And he was worried. Plus, there was also the fact that if anything happened to her Angelus would have his guts for garters. Perhaps literally. It might take a while but he would eventually heal. Probably. She had softened him up quite a bit but he would still torture anyone who defied him and Spike had suffered greatly at the mercurial vampire's hands. Even Buffy wasn't immune to his temper though her ah, _lessons_, were certainly milder than Spike or Drusilla could have hoped for.

Though he'd take a beating over the humiliation of being spanked any day.

If Buffy were in danger and he didn't try to help her… Well, Angelus might just kill him if anything happened to her.

But what about Drusilla? Buffy could look after herself in a pinch. Dru could not. His decision made, Spike began looking for the nearest manhole.

The Master was leaning in and there was an awful wave of nausea as he sank his teeth into her neck. Normally feeding was very pleasant, it could be very nice, and to vampires feeding or being fed from was normally a sexual thing.

This held no pleasure for Buffy. She was mated to Angelus, and as such, no other was to touch her, no other was to feed off of her. That pleasure, he had coolly informed her from where she had lain curled up in his bed when she was still human, was for him alone. Of course, then she had sobbed, not understanding, not knowing, and he had understood and put her to bed despite her protests. She had been so confused then, and hadn't, couldn't let herself, understand why.

Why when she was weak from exhaustion and malnutrition (hard to have an appetite when your undead ex-boyfriend was leaving you bodies as presents) he had protected her. He had killed the vampires seeking to kill her. Slaughtered them in a murderous rage and snatched her from the dirty alley where they had fought. Taken her to his mansion ignoring her desperate struggles and sobs and had calmly taken her to a windowless bathroom, filled the elegant tub with warm water, and locked her in. Tired as she was, she eventually capitulated to his demands and had cleaned herself up. He had given her warning, opened the door and caught her as she attempted to flee half-heartedly. Dragging her to another windowless room, this one a bedroom, and had locked the door behind them. He told her that he would leave her alone once she went to sleep, still the picture of calm control. She had raged and wept and screamed why at him.

He had given her answers she hadn't wanted to hear. Words that spoke of possession and forever and mine. She eventually used up all of her depleted energy and fallen into an exhausted sleep. She awoke a few days later in her own bed, in her family's mansion, with no one apparently the wiser. That had been long ago, when she would have tried to kill this vampire because it was her duty, not because her lover suggested it.

There was a horrible sensation as the think, almost brittle fangs san into her neck and Buffy screamed. Her immortal body weakened and he dumped her nearly drained body into the pool of water.

"Free! I am free at last!" he cried before Buffy's vision blurred too much for her to see. The last thing she saw before she slid into unconsciousness was her lover's face.

The Master had never felt more powerful, the traitor's powerful blood ran through his veins. Ironic, really, that Buffy Summers was how he had gotten free. There was a prophecy that he would be freed by a slayer, and that one would die at this hands. He tilted his deformed head back and let out a maniacal laugh. He was free and now he would open the hellmouth and suck the world into hell. He would wreak havoc on the world and see it destroyed.

For the world deserved to be destroyed in Nest's mind. It was a place that mocked those who were strong or special or different and was lead by those mindless sheep-like humans. Everyone who Nest had cared for or respected had been wronged by the world as humans, had been outcasts for various reasons. Nest himself had been shunned by the small town he lived in, going from prosperous merchant to social pariah all because his puritanical neighbors believed him to be practicing witchcraft. He paid them back in the end.

And he would pay the world back for all it had taken from him. Those members of his family who could not be there with him because they had been taken down by Slayers or rival vampires or other things. The ability to walk freely among the humans. The acknowledgment he deserved. He would pay the world back in full measure. It was time for him to take his pound of flesh and he was damned if the world wouldn't now know the name of Henriech Joseph Nest.

Angelus was alone in his so-called torture chamber. And despite the blood running down his body, he looked arrogant and bored. And indeed he was both.

He rotated his wrists softly, deliberately cutting them against the manacles that were, unfortunately, not quite tight enough. A little blood would hopefully allow him to slip right out and then he-

He gasped out in pain and let out an unearthly scream.

Buffy. Buffy. _Buffy_.

Pain and terror permeated his senses but they were not his own though he now shared them. His mate was dying and he wasn't there. He wasn't there and she needed him. She needed him.

With a horrible yell he wrenched himself free of his chains and began to tear and pound at the door. When a minion came to check on him, he ripped his head clean off and bolted down to where he felt Buffy. She was weak, very weak, and he needed to get to her before, well before.

He had never contemplated living without her since the moment he had laid eyes on her nearly seventy years ago.

She couldn't die, she couldn't.

Buffy couldn't breathe.

_In out in out….Buffy. Two men raced to her side. One was her Angel! And the other, panicked, who was he? She didn't know. –CPR the boy was saying and then the wildly panicked angel said 'I don't breathe' and the other male had his lips on her and things were getting fuzzy and then her darking looked so white._ And, she realized with a dizzying jolt- _they all were wearing white hats and she was wearing a white dress-_

Another place, another time, her mind whispered.

And as darkness closed in on her she heard a fallen angel screaming her name.

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So! What do you think? Please review! Thanks :)


	8. Chapter 7

_**This is the end of this story, the last chapter, and I am thrilled. It has been really fun and I am personally very glad to get this finished so I can focus on Blindness and other WIP's again. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did :)**_

_**Thanks!**_

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**Chapter 7**

Though he had not needed breath in a good two hundred and fifty years, Angelus found himself giving gasping shuddering sobs as he raced to get to Buffy. As he burst into the cave and saw her lying face down in a pool he mouthed her name and shook before dashing over to her side and pulling her out. He cradled her in his arms and rocked for a moment on his heels. She wasn't dead. And that was all his brain could absorb for that moment.

"Buffy," he murmured. "Buffy, Buffy, Buffy,".

She looked so lifeless, so dead. But she wasn't, she wasn't dust.

He inhaled. He yanked his dagger out of his boot and sliced open his wrist. He held it down to her wrist.

"Drink, God baby, please." Blood trickled into her mouth but her waxy eyelids never moved. His wrist slowly began to heal and he impatiently sliced it open again. More blood trickled into her mouth, staining her lips a violent bloody red. Slowly her eyelids fluttered. Her mouth opened a little more and her soft little hands stole up to latch on to his wrist. Her faced shifted and she sucked voraciously at his wrist. Angelus watched her, profound relief stealing over him when he saw her shift upward. She would be alright. He felt himself weakening and waited a few more moments before tugging his wrist away. She moaned unhappily and he tugged more insistently. She looked up at him with the child-like wonder he hadn't seen in decades.

"Angel" she murmured. "I saw you."

"I know," he told her, "I'll always save you."

"No," she said, "A different you."

"There is no other," he said stubbornly, his concern crinkling his eyes.

"Another me, too." She said.

"Buffy,"

She looked at him, her green eyes solemn. "I know."

"We have to find him," Angelus said.

"I know."

"And I'll kill him," he snarled, "he will die for this my love, I swear it." Angelus looked crazed.

"No, "she said. "It has to be me, do you understand? I think this had to happen."

He took that in for a moment and snarled again.

"Fucking prophecies, damnit!" he yelled "How dare they"

Buffy looked at him questioningly.

"They, they that are, the fucking Powers That Be."

"Revenge?" she queried.

"Maybe, baby, maybe, but they'll pay."

She knew better than to contradict him in this mood. He was completely unreasonable and it would only waste time.

"I have to do this though, you agree?"she asked urgently.

"If you think I'm going to let you get yourself killed because you-"

"You can help," she insisted, "just not with me."

He looked into her eyes and saw love, other things too, pain and confusion and determination and fire but love, love for him overwhelemed all else.

"I love you, he said quietly, "I've certainly come to terms with it, but sometimes I wish I didn't. This would be easier then."

She was not offended, she had seen him in all stages of love form obsessive lust to infatuation and knew the pain it had caused him. That the pain was only a fraction of what she herself had known never occurred to her.

"I know," she told him quietly, "I know."

They locked eyes. "Just kiss me," she said. And then he did.

Spike staggered down the street. He didn't feel much better but he had to reach Drusilla.

"Hey," a concerned young man approached him. Must not have lived in Sunnydale long. "Are you okay?"

Spike sank his fangs into the good Samaritan and drained him dry.

"Feelin' a bit better now thanks to you, mate."

The blood did its work and Spike's head felt a bit better after a few painful moments of throbbing. He shook his head and jumped a few times experimentally. Felling much better he started running for the mansion and Dru.

He approached it with more caution than he normally would, which is to say, not very much. He smashed through the door and raced up the sweeping stair case, and burst into the room he and Drusilla were sharing. His princess was huddled in the corner shaking.

"Dru, baby?" Spike asked. She whimpered.

"What is it, Ducks?" He asked, sitting down beside her and wrapping an arm around her shaking shoulders.

"As it was so it must be for she died then and there and though we're here and now the book has already been written." Drusilla looked up at him with wide eyes. Spike pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"She died" Drusilla said looking at him with wide eyes. He looked at her in horror.

"Buffy? NO!," Spike yelled at stood up, looking around wildly. "She can't be dead! I would have felt it!" he snapped, his face shifting into the vampiric visage. Dru whimpered but he was too distraught to calm her.

Spike," she whimpered plantitively. He looked at her. His eyes were wide, seeing a future too horrible to contemplate.

"He'll kill us Dru. Definitely me at least," he muttered franticly. "God. He'll destroy the world if he can't have her. He'll, God, I don't-" Spike broke off, shuddering.

Drusilla was shaking her head wildly. "No, no my Spike, not here, you understand, it was another world another time because she's already dead and the other slayer, she made it this way," Her eyes implored him to understand. Spike stared at her for a moment, not sure what to think.

"So Buffy is not," he stressed, "dust?" His dark goddess shook her head and looked at him with her wide eerie eyes. Spike took a deep unneeded breath and ran his hands over his head. It was an obvious relief to him that Buffy was alive, but the realization of just what would happen if she were to die remained with him, a terrible possibility.

Drusilla looked at him with knowing eyes. In a rare moment of clarity she said, "I know".

Spike shook his head again, in another fruitless attempt to clear away the frightening future. Finding he could not, he fisted his hands and stood up.

"I'm going to find them pet," he said, "see if they need any help."

Drusilla nodded. "I'm coming too." She said, in her little girl voice. Spike nodded helplessly. He helped her to her feet and they left the mansion.

The library. Of all places, the mouth of hell was in the library? At a high school. It was a little odd. Buffy watched the Master laughing above the roof of the building. Angelus watched her watching him. His hands convulsed. He was helpless here. Buffy it seemed, had to be the one to kill the Master. He had little doubt about the accuracy of that but it terrified him.

"Why did I fall in love?" he said, almost resentfully. Buffy looked at him. Her eyes were calm, but behind that, there was the terror of the small girl he had found in an alleyway all those years ago, who feared her power and feared she would fail. She didn't want to die.

"I know the feeling," she said. Her eyes focusing on the deranged vampire on the roof of Sunnydale High School. She turned to face him and brushed her lips against his, so gently he almost wanted to cry. Instead he scowled, and grabbed her closer, his hands fisting tightly in her hair, mashing his lips to hers. He kissed her masterly, desperately, almost brutally. Jerking her head back from his he brought her eyes to focus on his.

"You aren't going to die baby, so stop acting like it," he snarled. She looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, and then gave a slight nod.

"Good. Now go and kill him." Angelus said. "Make me proud."

Cordelia desperately hacked away at the tentacle dragging Giles into the hellmouth. It had opened, and they had no idea why. A tingling sensation spread down her spine and she froze glancing up. It was truly unfortunate timing though. Because just as she glimpsed the hideous vampire laughing away on the glass roof of the library, the creature of the hellmouth wrapped an arm around her feet and knocked her to the ground. She screamed loudly. Giles gritted his teeth and looked ot see what had distracted his Slayer. His eyes widened in horror.

"NO!" he gasped. "How could he have gotten free!"

Cordelia looked at him in panic as she grabbed her axe and tried desperately to free herself from the thing that was pulling her toward its mouth.

"Who got free?" she snapped as she scrambled up.

"The Master!" Giles yelled. Cordelia froze, momentarily halted by horror. She looked up at the crazed vampire on the roof, the one who could only be killed by a slayer were he to escape, as Giles had told her. She looked at her watcher struggling with the beast of the hellmouth. She looked at the doors to the library. Cordelia ran away.

Giles looked after her in disgust.

"Oh, blast, just kill me now," he muttered. The arm wrapped around him tugged insistently at him as he hung onto the leg of a massive oak table.

"Not you," he spat.

Buffy looked at the Master in silence as he laughed to see the hellmouth opening. He turned around to face her and grabbed her neck. She maintained her composure. For the first time since she had been changed, she reveled in her slayerness, the essence of the hunter of vampires that had never quite deserted her, though she may have deserted it.

"Did you really think you could best me here when you couldn't below?" he hissed, letting go of her neck to snarl at her menacingly. Buffy looked at him curiously. His mouth looked so very odd.

"You have fruit punch mouth," she informed him. He looked at her blankly.

"What?"

Buffy clocked him in the mouth and he fell down.

"Save the hypnosis crap for the tourists," she snarled at him. And the fight began in earnest.

The two traded blows. Buffy was the better fighter, better strategist, but Nest was old and powerful and could certainly hold his own in speed and strength, though Buffy suspected that he hadn't used either much in the years since he had been trapped in the underground church.

She slammed her palm into his head and he stumbled retaliating by attempting to shove her off the roof. They traded more blows and Buffy realized that she needed to defeat him quickly, there wasn't much time before-

"Where are your jibes now?" he taunted.

Buffy glanced behind here through the skylight. The beast had begun to emerge more. The world was running out of time and so was she. There was an upended table directly underneath the skylight. If only she could… she gave a startled laugh. Could it be that easy?

"You laugh when my hell is on earth?" Nest snarled. Buffy inwardly rolled her eyes. She was a vampire same as he. Hell would be easy to survive, even if she didn't really want to experience it herself.

"Really, Nest," Buffy snarled. "If you're that excited about hell," she grabbed him by the neck, "Why don't you go there!"

She lifted him up and flipped him over herself in a move that Angelus had taught her when she was still human. He fell with a great crash through the skylight and was impaled upon the upturned table in the library below. Buffy watched him dissolve into dust, leaving only his ancient bones behind. The hellmouth creature quickly disappeared back into the floor. She noticed a man, the watcher, getting up from where he lay sprawled on the floor. She turned and looked back up at the night sky. She had succeeded and killed the Master. She felt numb. Buffy gave her head a shake and jumped down through the skylight into the library. She would have a quick chat with the watcher, and then she would go to Angelus and spend a week in bed with him, sleeping safely within his arms. God, she felt tired.

Angelus was shocked, and paused as he had been preparing to enter the library to assist Buffy in her defeat of the Master by hopefully wounding the hellmouth creature. _Was that…?_

Why yes, yes it was. The "slayer". Why was she running away? He flinched. Oh, well, Buffy had just staked the Master. _Good riddance baby…._

It didn't seem like the slayer knew that though, thought Angelus. Her movements were sort of furtive and she seemed jumpy and slightly guilty as she forced herself to walk away from the library at a moderate pace. What had she done to feel guilty about? He was curious now.

Cordelia inhaled and flinched as a sort of wailing, dying sound came from the building she had so hastily vacated. She hadn't meant to leave Giles there on his own. She had just gotten frightened. And who wouldn't? She wasn't replaceable after all, and he was. Not like he had any family anyway. No one would miss him. Not her fault, it wasn't her fault. She pushed her hair behind her ears (a true sign of her great distress, she would _never_ do something _so_ unattractive otherwise…)

…And bumped into a hard male chest. She looked up, eyes narrowed, startled and ready to lash out verbally at anyone who dared to interrupt her. She forgot all about it as she got a good look at just who she and bumped into. She decided to forgive him. After all, looking that good took a serious amount of effort, and it was hard to multitask. Damn, he looked like a god. _Hello, salty goodness_, she thought. Making an effort to look as attractive as possible, she gave the stranger her best smile.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Cordelia, now usually I wouldn't bother since it's so late and all," and here she have another wide smile, "but you must be new around here so I guess as part of the Sunnydale welcoming committee, I should probably show you around."

The dark man, who now that she got a better look at him, was wearing nothing but leather pants and manacles on his wrists, raised a single contemptuous eyebrow at her.

"I really hope," he said in a soft voice, "that you are not as stupid as you look, cause I gotta tell ya' babe," and here the angelic face shifted into the frightening vampiric visage. "Otherwise this just won't be fun!"

Cordelia screamed.

"Hi" Buffy said flatly to the Watcher who lay on the floor. "We both seem to have had an interesting day. I was rather hoping that you would be able to clear a few things up for me, that is, after all, I believe your purpose?"

Giles looked up at the petite blonde in astonishment. There were several bruises already fading on her bare arms and more visible on her collarbone. Most significant was the vicious bite mark in her neck, clearly it must have been dreadful before to still appear so grisly now. Though healing was impaired by blood loss so….

He gave his head a shake and picked up his spectacles from where they had fallen during the struggle. He was still sprawled out on the ground but he took out his handkerchief and began to polish his glasses with it.

"What happened?" he rasped.

Buffy looked at him, debating how much to tell him. She liked him well enough, for a human, in another life, he might have been her watcher. She idly wondered what her life would have been like if she had been born in 1980. She would be seventeen this year. Well, she was still seventeen this year. Whatever.

"I killed the Master," she said, the weight of her words only now impacting her. Again, she wondered how much to tell him. "He-, my blood set him free, I nearly died, maybe would have but-, and it was because I was the Slayer when I was human." Buffy watched him as he took in the implications of what she said.

"I-, I suppose, there should be a prophecy, I think, well, I will go look-" and the librarian trotted off to his office.

Giles looked at the walls for a moment in quiet deliberation before selecting a fat thick book. He muttered a few words under his breath and then hesitated. His desire to know what and why things had happened was in direct agreement with his desire not to die. But Rupert Giles was not a cowardly man. He turned to face the blonde vampiress.

"Why should I do this?" he stated calmly. Buffy looked at him for a moment.

"Because if you don't," she said coolly, "I will hurt you rather badly." Giles raised a sardonic eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak, but Buffy continued. "Then I will kill you," she continued.

"If you think-" Giles began, but Buffy cut him off once more.

"And we will see if you won't be more cooperative as a fledge," she finished, giving him that slight arrogant smirk she had stolen from her lover.

The watcher's eyes widened slightly, and he hesitated another moment before saying another short word in Sumerian. The large book he was holding opened to reveal a hidden compartment.

"Nice," Buffy commented idly.

The pages revealed two slim, decaying books covered in an ancient language, and from the smell and sight of it Buffy rather suspected they were written in blood. She looked at them in silence for a brief moment. Then she inhaled suddenly, realizing the great treasure the watcher possessed. She would definitely be taking those once she got what she needed from the man. He saw her glance.

"I have some very powerful wards on these just so you are aware," he informed her drily. She tilted back her lovely head and gave a real laugh, one that lasted longer then made him comfortable. When she was finished she fixed him with a pair of knowing green eyes, eyes that managed to appear innocent, and still spoke of her experience in life.

"Why tell me," she mused. "Afraid of my lover, are we?" She gave another silvery laugh, the laugh of a delighted girl.

Giles stiffened slightly. Afraid of her lover? Who wouldn't be? Buffy, while terrifying enough on her own, and certainly capable of great viciousness and cruelty, was nowhere near the sadist her consort was. And since she seemed at least moderately reasonable, oh yes, he would much rather deal with her.

"Who wouldn't be," he said drily, voicing his true thoughts to her. She smiled at him.

"You're terrified, but you don't cower or bluster," she said, "I like that, but I would like it even better if you were to tell me what I want to know."

Giles paged through the book for a few more minutes, moving hastily as he had no desire to face Angelus. He was just flipping a page when he paused, turning back.

"My Sumerian is a tad rusty, he said slowly, but I am quite sure that," he pointed to a symbol, "is the glyph for Slayer."

Buffy smiled. "It is," she said, and reached out for the scroll. "May I?"

Giles, startled by the polite request handed over the scrolls. Buffy glanced down at it, her lips mouthing words. A crease appeared between her eyebrows.

"Odd," she said, "very odd." Giles glanced at her with scholarly interest.

"What is?" he eagerly queried. She shrugged and allowed the text she was holding to close. If she wasn't sure if she should say something, she usually didn't say anything at all. Saved her the effort of having to track down and kill this man later.

She turned around and started walking towards the library doors that the current slayer had so recently exited. But before she could arrive, a group of teens came in, brandishing makeshift weapons.

Cordelia knew very well she was in trouble. Any sentient human being would know that, even if they didn't know what vampires were at all. When a large threatening man is grabbing your wrists and his hideously disfigured face is smiling cruelly, it's generally not a good thing. She realized with a jolt of terror that this must be Angelus, the angelic guy, the Scronge of Europe. The one who had turned a slayer…

"Oh my god, this is just," she gave a dramatic sigh, "so not my day, ya know? God, why do I even bother." She pulled her sexiest smirk.

Angelus raised an eyebrow. Well this was annoying. The terror was still there, true, but there was also something else. Lust? Well, he smirked, that was a given. But she wasn't panicking. She somehow thought she could get out of this alive. He gave her a once over. She was attractive, he guessed, clinically, but not to him. There was a quality about her that he despised. He found he really disliked the arrogant brunette slayer.

"Why bother?, I am afraid you should, ah, bother yourself a bit more my dear, I'm rather short on blood right now and yours, slayer, smells simply… enticing." There. That ought to do the trick. Angelus really preferred his dinner a bit more wiggly.

Enticing. Well that was a start, Cordelia thought. Angelus eyed her for a moment. It was very irritating, she still wasn't afraid. He shrugged mentally. Eh, it was easily enough solved.

The air was punctuated by twin snapping sounds and a wailing shriek that echoed around the courtyard the pair was in. Cordelia was in shock. Her wrists were broken. He had broken her wrists. HE had hurt her. She attacked.

Angelus rolled his eyes and backhanded her viciously, sending her flying into the wall where she slumped down. He looked at her for a moment.

"Lemme guess," he taunted, "you though I was looking for an upgrade?" He laughed. "There is no better girl. And I do truly hope you get it because now you're going to die."

Cordelia screamed again but her voice slowly faded as the dark demon drained the life out of her. Toeing her body aside with a careless shrug, he stood up and walked toward Buffy. All he wanted was to take her home and spend a week caught up in her arms in their bed.

"Buffy," he murmured.

Oz and his gang halted as they walked into the library. They had wanted to talk to the Watcher about the crazy things that had just stopped as they were a little ways away from the school. Oz looked at the petite pretty blonde in alarm.

"Hey," he said, with about as much emotion as anyone heard from him. "Are you alright."

Buffy looked at him in amusement. Sunnydale do-gooders. What a concept. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be just fine," she told him softly and made to exit the library.

"Hey," a large male told her, "Wait! You need-"

Buffy turned around to face him, her vampire visage showing now.

"What I need," she told him in a deadly voice, "is blood. So unless you're volunteering, shut up and get out of my way."

The group of teenagers jumped and a girl cried out in alarm, "Giles!" and rushed into the Watcher's office. Buffy made to leave the library but was forced to halt and catch a crossbow bolt. She snarled at the teenagers.

"Okay," she snapped, "I've had a really long day and I just want to go home. But the next fool who tries to stop me will die a death so horrible that Rupert in there," and she nodded to the office where even now the Watcher and girl were emerging unharmed, "will go mad trying to record it. Now I hope I've made myself clear." And with that she turned and made her exit without interruption.

As the doors swung shut behind her, Oz looked at Giles with a mix of curiosity and mild frustration.

"Why did we let her go?" he demanded, jerking his crossbow out from under the Watcher's grip. Giles looked at him with unseeing eyes.

"Because that was perhaps the second most powerful vampire in North America, second only to the most sadistic creature alive. She also just killed the Master, a vampire who could have easily slaughtered us all. There was absolutely no chance in winning and if by some miracle we happened to succeed in killing her, then her enraged lover would give you a death far worse than the one she promised." Giles looked at Oz. The young man had his respect, but on occasion he simply didn't know what he was getting into. None of them did really. It was a harsh and cruel world when children died to protect their unwitting parents. He wondered how anyone who truly loved their child could send then to Sunnydale High School.

"I don't want you all to die." He finished. Oz looked at him with eyes that were too old for his face.

"That's not really your choice," he stated softly. Giles met his eyes.

"No, I suppose it isn't. But to die wastefully is worst of all."

Oz shrugged. "It's always a waste". Giles had no response for that.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Buffy stepped nearer to her love. He gently, tenderly even, pulled her against him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he stroked her hair. He pressed his cool lips to the top of her hair.

"Take me home" she commanded softly.

"Is this home?" he asked pulling back slightly to look at her eyes.

"Anywhere you are is home," she told him. He enfolded her in his arms again, swiftly, shuddering slightly.

"I would have welcomed it" he said, "If you were dead…'

She looked at him. "I'm not."

"But you could have been," he pressed on. "And I would have seen the world gone to hell rather than live a day on earth without you."

It could have been taken as a sappy romantic sentiment, but Buffy knew it for the truth it was.

"I promised you always," she said after a brief pause.

"Forever," he agreed.

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**_Reviews make me ever so happy :) Feedback is appreciated greatly. _**


	9. Epilogue

Hey, so this is just a brief bit following the end of ch 7 to provide a bit ore closure.

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Epilogue

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One week later.

Buffy smiled as her lover wrapped his arms around her. He nuzzled into her neck and slid his fangs gently back and forth across her neck and gently lapped at the tiny scratches he'd make. She felt her skin healing. That night had been the first night in a week since they had bothered to leave the mansion, her near death experience shaking them both.

Angelus lifted his mouth from her neck and rested his chin on her head, stooping slightly. He wrapped his arms around hers and Buffy's arms came up to rest on his. She turned deeper into his embrace.

They heard the soft whisper of noise and Dru and Spike came out onto the porch, holding hands. In Dru's other hand, Miss Edith dangled crazily.

"It's our party now," the dark vampiress stated with a beatific smile.

"Yeah, Dru, it is," Angelus stated.

"Mmm" commented Buffy.

"Tired?" Spike leered suggestively. Buffy flicked him off.

"Now now children," Angelus said, "No fighting or daddy'll spank."

Spike and Buffy rolled their eyes in unison.

"Tomorrow," said Dru, "We have to find Vengeance."

"We've already found it pet," Spike said gently. Dru shook her head.

"No," she said, her lovely family were sweet lambs, but they never understood, "She's still around. And once we find her…" She snapped her teeth together playfully.

Buffy gave her an impish grin. "Sounds good to me!" she chirped. Angelus leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"You know what else sounds good?" he breathed in her ear. Buffy looked up at him form under hooded lashes.

"Okay," she smiled wryly at him. She nipped his nose. "I'll bite."

His smile told her that indeed she would be.

"You. Screaming," he breathed.

"Oh, well, I suppose that could be managed." She said, sounding faintly breathless.

His response was a deep echoing laugh, full of joy. He swept her off her feet and they went inside.

Drusilla smiled. "Thank you your majesty," she whispered. "I promise we won't break anything… too badly anyway. It's going to be such a lovely party. Too bad you aren't here."

And as her vampiric hearing picked up shrieks and giggles from deep in the mansion, her smile grew even wider.

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I hope you enjoyed this :)


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